different between inrush vs onrush

English

Etymology

in- +? rush

Noun

inrush (plural inrushes)

1. A crowding or flooding in.
   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV

     As we swung around, the full force of the current caught us and drove the stern against the rocks; there was a thud which sent a tremor through the whole craft, and then a moment of nasty grinding as the steel hull scraped the rock wall. I expected momentarily the inrush of waters that would seal our doom; but presently from below came the welcome word that all was well.
2. The initial flow of electricity into a component when it is switched on.

Synonyms

• surge

Derived terms

• inrushing

Translations

Verb

inrush (third-person singular simple present inrushes, present participle inrushing, simple past and past participle inrushed)

1. (obsolete) To rush in.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

Anagrams

• Rushin, runish, rush in

English

Etymology

From on- +? rush. Compare Middle English onresen (“to rush upon; attack”), from Old English onr?san (“to rush, rush on”); Old English onr?s (“an onrush, assault, attack”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n????/

Noun

onrush (plural onrushes)

1. A forceful rush or flow forward.
   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, New York: C.S. Francis & Co., 1857, First Book, pp. 32-33,^[1]

     The love within us and the love without

     Are mixed, confounded; if we are loved or love,

     We scarce distinguish. So, with other power.

     Being acted on and acting seem the same:

     In that first onrush of life’s chariot-wheels,

     We know not if the forests move or we.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, London: William Heinemann, Chapter 22,

     For a brief moment the onrush of the egwugwu [masked men representing ancestral spirits] was checked by the unexpected composure of the two men. But it was only a momentary check, like the tense silence between blasts of thunder. The second onrush was greater than the first. It swallowed up the two men.

   • 1987, Paul Goldberger, “A Baker’s Dozen of New York City’s Urban Masterpieces,” New York Times, 31 July, 1987,^[2]

     So persistent is the onrush of new construction in New York that the first temptation for the architecture buff is to track down the latest things, be they good or bad […]

2. An aggressive assault.

Synonyms

• onslaught

Translations

Verb

onrush (third-person singular simple present onrushes, present participle onrushing, simple past and past participle onrushed)

1. To rush or flow forward forcefully.
2. To assault aggressively.

Translations

Anagrams

• Hurons